


Mahina Has A Glitch

by AuthorA97



Series: Ohana [2]
Category: Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Genre: Alien Technology, Dubious Science, Dysfunctional Family, Family, Gen, Science Experiments, Stitch Glitches, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2020-12-01 21:04:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20898779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorA97/pseuds/AuthorA97
Summary: Mahina has been here for a nearly a year. She knows it's going to well- she's not even a little surprised when it all starts falling apart. She should, right? She should be worried.





	1. Since That Day

Dr. Trevor Hunter was a practiced therapist, on loan from the CIA to handle a case that was out of this world. The agent’s words, not Trevor’s. He had received the case in November, seeing real fast the need for his assignment. 

The girl had turned seven not long after her adoption was finalized. She had already gone through three therapists in this time. The first- according to the report- had been terrible underqualified, the second had left because of a family issue, and the latest had left because she hadn’t approved of the girl’s adopted parent being an alien.

Yes an alien.

Trevor wanted to say he’d seen weirder but that would be a lie.

As he read more of the file, he knew he was stepping into something that was a really big deal. The girl had seemingly been left alone on the streets to fend for herself, living out of a box and having to steal food. Neither of her birth parents could be contacted, her grandmother was on the other side of the country and way too old to take proper care of her, leaving her a practical ward of the state. She had been involved in something labelled classified, before being adopted by the alien. The photos of the two of them made his species obvious- he had a purple head and four eyes, for crying out loud.

She’d been exceptionally bright. The agent who had found her made notes that when she had tested for schooling, she’d surpassed her age group in droves. Yes, she’d failed a majority of the questions, but it was noted that she had been suspected to _ purposefully _ get questions wrong so as to hide behind her knowledge. So another level of intelligent.

Trevor had an introductory session after reading the file. Mahina Jookiba had been evasive in her answers, occasionally being too upfront with the answers. Trevor wasn’t a high-level genius like her, but even he could see when someone was hiding something. The girl was good, near mastermind. Trevor’s skills lay in seeing the behavior of masterminds. Hence his recommendation for this case.

He had found better ways of getting her to talk. Mahina would tend to babble if she was given something to work on during a session. Over the months, Trevor had seen her work on a _ lot _ of things. A record player that could play music based on emotion, a toaster but for eggs, upgrades on a hover car, etc. Those were just the most memorable. Mahina didn’t seem able to think about her mechanics while also coming up with easy lies.

He’d had joint sessions with the adoptive father as well. Jumba was a mastermind in a whole other way. They both would work on whatever machine Mahina had brought. As Trevor asked Jumba questions, Mahina would add in some mathematical equation problem. Jumba was much more open during the talks at the first than Mahina had been.

His disguises were actually worse than the file had shown. He hadn’t even tried wearing a fake wig.

They were coming up on 10-months post adoption. Trevor knew that anniversaries were a big deal. To the Jookiba’s, any sort of mention on emotions had them veering away from the topic. 

Trevor remembered their holiday session. Mahina had just been excited Christmas was coming- nothing about how this was her first Christmas with a new family, or first Christmas out of the box, or just anything anyone thought was a normal reaction. Trevor was just surprised to see Mahina so excited and open. _ That _ was the closest she’d had to a normal seven-year-old’s reaction the entire time he’d been her therapist.

The door to his office opened.

Trevor looked up. Mahina wasted no time for a greeting, just walking up to the small coffee table to drop her notebook on it. She was sketching out designs for- Trevor didn’t have any idea what it was. He could see it when Mahina dropped it down on the coffee table to work on it. 

“Mahina. Hello.” He greeted. She’d never been one to wait politely for a door to open. Her reasoning had been_ ‘you don’t have an appointment before mine, so there’s no reason for me to not walk right in’ _. “Busy, again?”

“Well duh.” Mahina scoffed. She erased something on the design, twisting it about to get the proper angle. “It’s almost May- they said I needed a project to turn in to show I learned something. Which is complete nonsense. I’ve done tons of learning, none of them just like me talking about it!”

Trevor nodded. “Yes. I seem to remember this debate after your first semester.”

Mahina scoffed. “Yeah. Me, in first grade. The _ outrage _. Worse yet it was the same class as Myrtle!”

The class bully, Trevor had written in his earlier notes. There had been a number of fights involving Myrtle, however Mahina was never the one to throw the punch. Rather it was her housemate, Lilo Pelekai. 

“But it had Lilo too.”

Mahina hesitated in her reply there. She took a deep breath through her nose, staring thoughtfully at the blueprint. “Lilo and Myrtle would fight if I was there or not. I like being in the other class.”

Trevor made a note of her answer. “What’s the project you have in mind?”

“Upgrades on a personal project, presented as a new thing.” Mahina admitted. “It was based on the tricorder from _ Star Trek. _ Sometimes Pleakley tries to cook- I needed something that could tell. So I figured I could adjust it for-”

“Or- and hear me out- you just do a baking soda volcano. Like all the other second graders.” Trevor notes. He’d tried stepping in often 

Mahina gave him a deadpan stare. Trevor was aware the idea was stupid, so he gave Mahina a grin. She seemed to accept the idea as a joke.

“You have a point though. Society isn’t ready for some things.” Mahina tapped her pencil on the blueprint. “But it needs to be_ better!” _

Trevor only nodded, accepting the argument. “A project to show what you’ve learned. You’ve had a busy year, what _ have _you learned?”

Mahina kept tapping her pencil on the blueprint. “Well I learned its better for me to be in second grade than first or middle school. There was that incident with blenders-”

Trevor held back a shudder. It had been a trying week when the blenders happened. “I remember.”

“-I think I learned...uh...” Mahina glanced at the blueprints, then around the room. “...how _ not _to make a blender?”

“So...does that mean you will _ make _ a blender?” Trevor asked her. “A normal one, at least?”

Mahina hesitated. She steeled her expression, sitting back in her seat. Trevor has learned this was the _ ‘I don’t know what he wants me to say’ _ face. Or rather _ ‘I know what I want to say but it’s not an answer that anyone will like’ _.

She often did that. Considered her answers over- Trevor was of the belief that Mahina was trying not to sound alien in her answers. Growing up with aliens might have given her the idea that all her ideas were alien in nature.

She was trying so hard to be human, while reminding him about how she and Mr Jookiba had given a blender a power upgrade so strong it took the power from the whole _ island. _

In all of it, Mahina wanted to be normal. Trevor saw that in how hard she worked in her classes- yet always maintained a level of _ normal _despite what her high IQ implied. She always explained alien incidents- reported to him by Ms Pelekai or HQ or Mr Jookiba- in human terms. 

She was something big...did little to hide that fact...unless the implications brought question of her humanity. 

One of her other therapists tried to have her dishonored with _ Antisocial Personality Disorder. _ Which Mahina _ might _ have, or do Trevor thought until he saw _ true _displays of empathy.

“I think it would be a good idea.” Trevor noted. “My blender is always so slow. A super-powered blender would really help my wife finish her morning shakes.”

The forced blankness on her face cracked. There was a smile clawing it’s way on her face, along with a spark in her eyes. 

“So?”

“I...like the blender idea.” Mahina admitted.

Trevor smiled at her. “Now tell me- I’m curious- what have Lilo and Stitch been up to since last time?”

Mahina actually snorted. “Well they have a whole other thing in hula class.”

She went on to talk about hula related arguments between her and them. She added stories about how she’d tried following Trevor’s last advice from last session.

==MHAG==

The session ended at the end of the hour. Jumba was there to take her home.

Mahina dropped all the loose papers on her desk. She’d done a lot of calculations while talking to Dr Hunter. That blender was going to be _ good _ dammit! It was going to help save Stitch!

While Mahina put aside the calculations, she grabbed the more important papers. The fusion chamber was going to be a perfect invention for her project! If she helped build it, then better to her!

She was nearly shaking with glee as she pinned the calculations to a corkboard. It was decorated with sheets of various kinds of paper: lined, black, sticky, etc. She had put down everything she remembered about the upcoming film. Key events had been marked- along with her best estimation of a timeline.

Mahina jumped in a bean bag chair across the room from the corkboard. She tapped a pencil onto the chair, staring at the buddings of a Plan. She should’ve bought the DVDs of movies and the show, so she wouldn’t have to rely on memory so much. Well maybe when this was done she could pop back Home to get them...Then again, the longer Mahina stayed in Kauai the less she wanted to go Home. She liked it here more and more each day.

Still. A good idea to go back for supplies.

She had nearly blown it today at therapy. She hadn’t expected it to hit so hard. What had Dr Hunter been thinking, asking her to do something normal? So what that Mahina didn’t do things normal. So _ what _? Huh?

What did Mahina Jookiba know about normal? 

NOTHING! She was the definition of abnormal!

She had alien adoptive parents, cause apparently her birth parents couldn’t have bothered to watch their own kid- left her to live for herself out of a fucking box, and her housemates were another alien and two orphans! She was currently looking at a design for a fusion chamber to familiarize herself with the project so that she could be ready when it was needed cause she knew the future of this world cause she-

Cause she wasn’t Mahina Jookiba.

She was Morgan Spencer.

She was...fuck she was twenty-seven, wasn’t she?

Huh.

Twenty-seven, in the body of a seven-year-old, in the _ Lilo & Stitch _ universe...adopted by Jumba Jookiba.

What did Morgan Spencer know about normal?

Nothing.

She was the definition of abnormal...

She had two parents (presumably birth parents, she hadn’t found an adoption certificate yet but she was holding out on that theory of being switched), two annoying younger brothers who Mom and Dad wouldn’t stop gushing about, she had no friends outside the characters on TV. She only had those friends cause she had the weird power to travel realities...

Morgan Spencer.

Ms Abnormal.

She preferred being Mahina.

_ No wonder she needed therapy. _

She stared at her corkboard of sketches and calculations and sticky note reminders, her thoughts zooming about as she put a Plan together. She could worry about normalcy later, when Stitch was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, something my OC has always needed: therapy. Probably also me cause I’m not a picture of mental health.  
Also this is not a representation of an actual therapy session. I literally just did research for this, and wrote out how I’d thought it would go for Mahina/Morgan’s special case. If you disagree, boohoo. If you want an actual correct therapy fic then go find it.  
Without further ado, let the fic begin!


	2. Dream A New Dream

Mahina woke up from a dream. Not a bad one. She didn’t have many bad dreams lately. Even then, her dreams were just...weird. Foreboding. The kind you get when you watch a psychological thriller without watching a Disney movie after to wash the taste of it from your brain (not a perfect analogy but whatever).

This dream had been normal. She was driving in a hover car. People were screaming down below. Marina was searching for them. Every time she got close the screaming stopped then appeared somewhere else. She searched and searched with nothing in sight. Mahina couldn’t even see what everyone was screaming about.

It was frustrating.

She shook off the last remains of the dream, climbing out from her hammock bed. She pulled out a dream journal. It had been one of her other therapist’s ideas. 

It was weekend time, no need for school. That didn’t stop her from working on things. Her bedroom desk was covered in graph paper and designs. Some for the device to restore Stitch, some she had come up with on the fly. She hadn’t built much- nothing that wouldn’t fit in the red ship.

It was a big ship.

She’d had a lot of room to have fun.

Mahina heard a yell from outside. A quick run to her window showed Stitch falling towards the ground, grasping for a red book. He was able to grab it, then latch onto the wall to climb back up to him and Lilo’s room.

She did not wish to take part in their antics this morning. Let them have their weird mock-therapy session, Stitch could use a little light hearted fun. She got dressed for the day, heading downstairs for food.

==MHAG==

Nani was cleaning up the table by the time Mahina made it down. The older woman let out a relieved sigh. “Oh, good. You’re up.” Nani leaned towards the door, going over Mahina’s head. “Lilo! Stitch! You’re gonna be late for hula class.”

Mahina moved into the kitchen. She grabbed a toaster pastry packet- blueberry flavored, the best- to have. She had things she wanted to do today. They didn’t allow for a big breakfast in a short time frame.

“Hurry up, you two.” Nani called out once again. She finished cleaning the table, balancing Jumba and Pleakley’s used dishes in a pile. “Hey, can you guys help me today? It’s family night. I want the house clean.” Nani requested the two aliens.

“Oh, not me. I have very important project I’ve been working on.” Jumba stated. He turned to Mahina. The girl was halfway through a second Pop-Tart. “Come, little girl! We have to get started-”

Mahina beamed. She’d really wanted to make a crop circle. She had a great idea for a design to use.

“No more crop circles!” Nani ordered.

...later. She had a design for later.

“Ah! Oh... All the other aliens get to make them.” Jumba complained.

Mahina patted him on the arm. “It’s okay.” She walked out of the room with Jumba. They walked towards the stairs. “She said nothing about crop- _ squares _ .”

Jumba beamed. He ruffled Mahina’s hair. “Haha! Clever thing!”

Mahina waved his hand away. “What have I said about the hair?!” She smoothed it down from the frizz that had come from his ruffling. 

To that, Jumba only laughed.

Lilo and Stitch ran down the stairs. They rushed past Mahina and Jumba. Mahina peaked in the kitchen to watch. Jumba too.

“Can we take the hovercraft? Please?” Lilo asked.

Stitch added a similar request in their language.

“You know how I think it’s too dangerous. Besides, someone may see you.” Nani explained.

“If she let me install the stealth tech.” Mahina pouted, crossing her arms over her chest like a petulant child.

Jumba patted her back. “Bah, you will blow up ship.”

“I’m careful!” Mahina argued.

Jumba laughed at her. Mahina wanted to kick him. She could do it! She knew she could. She’d been looking at the inner workings of the hovercraft, searched a lot on her homemade computer about the motors and things she didn’t understand. She could totally build stealth tech for the hovercraft. It would be awesome!

She had already been tuning up her own hovercraft for months now. Surely, Jumba had noticed he hadn’t needed to do anything to it? Or to Lilo’s? It was almost insulting at this point to think she couldn’t build-

_ ‘A normal one at least?’ _ Popped in Dr Hunter’s voice.

Mahina halted her train of thought. Should she be focusing on a more normal things. Normal kids don’t have plans to make hovercrafts invisible. Or to make crop squares...

Back in the kitchen, Lilo and Stitch were still pleading. “Please?” 

“All right, you can take it  _ if  _ you can find it.” Nani challenged.

“Yes!” The two small friends cheered. They rushed past the still chuckling Jumba and the somber Mahina.

_ ‘She kept it hidden in the trunk of her car.’ _ Mahina noted. _ ‘Mine is in the basement. Nani is bad at hiding things.’ _

“I hid it so good this time, they’re never-” Nani began to comment.

“Thanks, Nani!” Lilo cheered.

“Aw! I gotta find a better hiding place for that thing.” Nani complained.

Jumba looked down at Mahina. He didn’t notice her downward gaze. “Let’s be going to-”

“No.” Mahina requested, shaking her head. “Sorry. I- I forgot I had a thing. To do.” She walked away from Jumba’s hold. She went towards her room.

The giant purple/pink alien watched in confusion. “What? But you wanted so badly to make one!”

Mahina did. She wanted so badly to give all the anti-alien humans another thing to argue about with pro-alien ones. She loved finding forums about them online. Normal people were so-

“I have work.” Mahina continued on towards her room. She left Jumba standing alone.

==MHAG==

She was pacing in her room. She pointedly ignored the designs littered on the table and corkboard. She would work on those things later. 

Mahina looked to the desk. The siren song of tech upgrades called out to her. She could spot a pencil sitting patiently, looking perfect for this task. She could already picture the device in her mind.

She pushed it away.

Normal.

She could be normal. Or, learn how to be. Better than Pleakley was doing with his  _ ‘human studies’ _ . Mahina had been looking at human behavior for decades. Learning to replicate should be easy work, yes?

Except...Mahina didn’t know what to do.

She didn’t like this feeling. If she followed her Plan, then all of her actions were guided. There was direction. She knew what she would do next because that was helpful to their lives. If she was going to be normal, how else could she help? In ways that seemed normal to humans?

_ “Can you guys help me today? It’s family night. I want the house clean.” _

Funny, how some small habits can become big things. This one small thought set her off on a trend that followed in the centuries of her life to come, across the many lives she would one day live. Something that came in handy when a certain someone _ who shall remain nameless _ made quite a mess out of someone else’s living room.

When Morgan was stressed, she cleaned.

And she didn’t stop until the mess was  _ gone _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...apparently I also love giving Morgan/Mahina complexes. I can’t be kind to her, apparently.


	3. Trouble?!

Nani was called out to settle a problem with Lilo in hula class. Mahina saw her running outside, not even glancing to the living room. That was fine. Mahina wasn’t done cleaning it yet.

Nani herself had been swept up in cleaning the kitchen. There had been a lot of dishes used by humans and aliens alike. 

Mahina had mostly cleaned everything. She polished the coffee table once more before deciding to go into the kitchen. She spotted clean dishes put out on the counter, along with some food stuffs.

So Nani had finished cleaning. Now she was just working on Family Night food. Mahina could work with that. She walked up to the counter, climbing up on it. She could reach for cabinets much easier now.

The window to the porch had been left open. Mahina knew Nani would get lightheaded from some of the chemicals she used to clean. The Grandcouncilwoman would occasionally send _ ‘care packages’ _ , on behalf of either the Council or Pleakley’s family. The packages often contained alien foods and the like, ones that Pleakley or even Jumba would finish quickly. Nani found it hard to clean dishes of those substances, so Bubbles had sent a care package of his own with a dish soap that worked against the alien foods.

Point was, Mahina could hear everything that was going on outside.

And it filled her with delight.

She set about making another jug of lemonade, just listening.

“As you can see, there was a little disagreement... again.” Teacher Kumu explained. 

Mahina snickered as she poured sugar into a jug.

“Ai-ya.” Nani groaned.

Mahina leaned towards the window to hear “Next time, flush the evidence.”

“ _ Ka-shush _ .”

She went back to the lemonade. Pleakley walked into the kitchen as she poured in a lemonade packet.

“Hello Mahina!” Pleakley greeted.

Mahina lowered the jug into the sink. “Hi Pleakley.” She turned on the sink. “Want some lemonade?”

“Boy would I!” Pleakley grabbed the jug- Nani’s finished jug- from the counter. He poured it down his throat.

Mahina watched, pulling out a long spoon. She went on stirring her new lemonade.

The front door opened. Mahina glanced towards it. Pleakley was still chugging the lemonade.

Nani paused in her entry. She looked around the cleaned kitchen. “Hold on- who cleaned in here?”

“I did!” Mahina called out.

Nani turned to the kitchen. Kumu leaned in. Mahina waved at him. Nani gently lead the guest away from the kitchen. “Make yourself at home, Kumu. I just made some lemonade.”

Though she walked further into the kitchen to find her jug empty. More specifically, empty on Pleakley’s head with him licking up every drop with his extra tongue.

“Wha...” Nani gawked.

“Hey Nani, we’re out of lemonade.” Pleakley cheered.

“Pleakley, I just made that.” Nani whined.

“I made more!” Mahina lifted the heavy jug of lemonade from the sink. She placed it down on the counter before crawling towards the cupboards for glasses.

“Mahina!” Jumba shouted as he stomped into the kitchen. His feet were caked in mud, tracking from the hallway.

Mahina yelped, tossing the glass into the air. She caught it before it went too far. It would’ve been bad if she dropped it. A piece of glass couldn’t gone in the lemonade!

“You have to come to lab and see my new invention.” Jumba

“l just mopped in here!” Nani whined.

“It will greatly improve your primitive Earthly life.” Jumba told Mahina.

“Can it wait five minutes?” Mahina asked. She climbed down from the counter, pouring a glass of lemonade. “I gotta make something.”

“And speaking of improving your life, I’ve just been reading this fascinating article called  _ Ten Days To A Slimmer You. _ ” Pleakley told Jumba. He even showed his fellow alien the article.

“Really? Let me see that.” Jumba mused.

“It’s full of wonderful suggestions.” Pleakley cheered.

Mahina idly wondered if they had any tips for getting hovercraft grease out of clothes. Then again, she could always try using the alien dish soap.

“I could stand to lose a few pounds.” Jumba tapped his large stomach.

“Guys! I don’t have time for this. We have a guest.” Nani scolded, trying to quiet the chaos.

“A guest?” Jumba cheered. “Well, let’s go meet him.”

Mahina climbed down from the counter. She had a glass of lemonade in hand, walking towards the living room. Nani has only stopped the tall people from walking forward.

Kumu smiled at Mahina. The tips of his mouth were tense, along with the corners of his eyes. She handed him the glass of lemonade.

“It’s new.” Mahina cheered.

“Thank you, Mahina.” Kumu have a small nod of his head.

Mahina turned to Lilo and Stitch. “Can I see the pictures?”

“Eh.” Stitch handed them to Mahina. As Nani walked in, she was giggling at one with Stitch in frame.

“Oh. I see Mahina got you a lemonade.” Nani let out a small relieves breath. “Thank you.”

Mahina kept giggling. “Are you pulling her hair?”

“Yes.” Lilo bragged.

“Anyway-” Nani pulled Lilo aside. “I know my sister is  _ very sorry  _ and _ didn’t mean it _ .” 

“Very sorry.” Lilo nodded her head.

“See?” Nani cheered to Kumu.

“But I did mean it.” Lilo admitted.

“Lilo?” Nani prompted, giving a warning glare.

“Next time, Myrtle Edmunds is going down. She’s going way down.” Lilo pretended to tap her elbow, then drop it down on the ground. Probably imagining Myrtle on the floor.

Stitch lifted the arm up, a victory cheer. He made the noises of a cheering crowd. Lilo beamed.

Mahina tucked the pictures onto the couch side table. She wanted to make copies later.

Nani chuckled awkwardly. Kumu watched this all with the expression that it was a normal occurrence. He wasn’t even phased anymore. “No more pro wrestling for you.” She smiled tightly at Kumu.

Mahina was surprised she was lasting this long. Usually, she’d dragged Lilo off to another room for a Pelekai style sister fight. Mahina made sure Stitch had a camera on him when those fights started.

There was the sound of heels on the floor, excitedly rushing about. Pleakley ran into the living room. “Where is she? Where is she?” Pleakley called out. 

Nani sighed.

“Wow.” Stitch gawked.

“Ai-kapulu.” Kumu winced.

Mahina had to make herself gawk so she wouldn’t burst out laughing.

Pleakley had chosen a... _ big _ look today. They were wearing a long blue dress, decorated in pink flower print. Someone they’d put on a red haired wig with a white sunhat, and big hoop earrings. There was a pink beaded necklace around their neck. Bright red painted lips stretched into a beaming smile when Pleakley’s eyeshadow covered eye caught Lilo. The cheeks could be mistaken for pink with delight, though Mahina knew it was makeup. Pleakley was always trying to get the ladies in the house to do makeovers.

“There’s our precious angel, who must be the victim of a misunderstanding.” Pleakley cheered. They rushed to Lilo, pulling the girl into a hug. Mahina watched in sympathy. Also from as far from Pleakley’s second arm as Mahina could get while still in the room.

“Oh, no, no...” Nani whined, running her hand over her face.

Loud footsteps came from behind Nani. Sure enough, Jumba marched out. His feet were clean from mud- giving Mahina a terrible feeling that the kitchen sink was an even bigger mess than this morning. He wore a large wife beater, and khaki pants with a brown belt. He’d added glasses to try to hide the extra eyes- it wasn’t going well. “Where is she?”

“Jumba. What are you doing?” Nani asked, panicking.

“Don’t worry. The cavalry has arrived.” Jumba assured Nani. He tucked the shirt into his pants before stretching his arms out wide. “There she is.”

“No, no, no, no.” Nani groaned.

“Hit the dirt, Stitch!” Mahina warned. She and Stitch jumped to the sides to avoid being swept up in another hug. Lilo could not be saved.

Jumba swept up Pleakley and Lilo into the hug. “Somebody give this kid gold star, she’s so good.” He lowered them both down.

Mahina gave Stitch the camera. He snapped a picture. “You are my hero.” Mahina praised. The blue experiment beamed.

“I don’t believe we’ve met.” Pleakley walked up to Kumu. “This is Uncle Jumba and l’m Auntie Pleakley.  _ Enchanté _ .” They held out their hand.

“On second thought, Kumu, we should talk outside.” Nani suggested through a nervous smile.

“It’s not polite to interrupt your auntie.” Pleakley pointed out.

Mahina snorted.

“Mahina, don’t snort. It’s unladylike.” Pleakley threw in.

Mahina tightened her face, struggling to contain more laughter. “Yes ma’am.” She let out a half snort before stopping it. “My bad.” She covered her mouth with her hand to help herself.

“Knock, knock.” David walked onto the porch.

“David.” Nani breathed out in relief.

“How’s it, every... body?” David blinked at the two aliens.

Jumba and Pleakley blinked back.

Lilo walked over to join Stitch and Mahina. Mahina showed her the picture of her in the hug. Lilo face palmed. Mahina patted her head.

Nani stood at David’s side. “You remember my Auntie Pleakley and Uncle Jumba, right?” She stressed.

“Uh...” David was still blinking at the two aliens.

“Say something.” Nani pleaded.

“Uh...” David swallowed down the nerves. He came up with “Nice hat.”

“Why, thank you,  _ David _ .” Pleakley turned to Kumu. “See? Uncle Jumba said it made me look top-heavy.”

“Aunt Pleakley wanted the truth.” Jumba explained.

“What we want and what we need are entirely different things.” Pleakley countered sagely. Kumu watched this, numbly. He was able to bring the cup of lemonade to his lips, as if he wouldn’t be asked to talk if his mouth was occupied. “It’s true what they say. Men are from Mars, and women are from Venus.” 

Lilo, Stitch, and Mahina started giggling to themselves. She missed David and Nani’s whispered conversation in her giggles.

She was able to catch “-gonna have to rain check.” Nani told David.

“That’s okay. I understand.” David nodded, glancing to the two aliens still arguing about the hat.

“Great. Thanks for understanding.” Nani replied.

Pleakley was now plopping the hat onto Kumu’s head. Mahina had to press her palm to her mouth, laughing into it to keep from being too loud. “I dare you to say that’s not flattering, even on him.”

Jumba opened his mouth to say exactly that when Nani stepped in. She wrapped her hands around Kumu’s arm, dragging him towards the door.

“Okay, I’m sure that Kumu isn’t interested in this.” Nani insisted.

“Nice to be meeting you.” Kumu waved them goodbye.

“ _ Au revoir _ .” Pleakley called out.

“Bye-bye.” Jumba let out a breath of relief. He punched Pleakely’s arm. “Boy. Good thing we were here.”

They turned their nose up at Jumba. “I’m not talking to you.”

The door was mostly shut for privacy. Mahina got herself together. She walked into the kitchen, seeing that there was indeed still mud on the floor, and now in the sink.  _ At least it’s not in the lemonade...cause Pleakley drank it again. _

Mahina went to pick-up the mop. 

“Mahina!” Jumba stomped into the kitchen. Mahina was used to the heavy footfalls, so she didn’t think anything of it as she searched for the floor cleaner. “Come! You must see new invention!”

“Na-” Mahina heistated. Would it seem normal if she answered that Nani wanted help cleaning? Or...or normal if she went with Jumba? She wanted to see the new invention- wanted to see it  _ so bad _ . She wanted to show Jumba her latest project too. Not the Saving Stitch one, this was part of her end-of-year project.

But...but Nani wanted the house clean.

That would help.

Mahina wanted to help more than anything in the world. It was her thing. She  _ had _ to help.

“Nah.” She shook her head at Jumba. She was scared he would take it personally, get offended that she hadn’t wanted to see the project. Would his feelings be hurt? Mahina didn’t want to hurt feelings.

Instead Jumba shrugged. “Okay. Come by whenever!” He walked out of the kitchen, onto the mud piles he made when he first arrived earlier.

Mahina let out a stressed whine. She braced herself, reminding herself that she had a job. A task to complete. It would make Nani less tense. Nani needed time to relax, to not stress. She should get to go see that movie with David. If a clean home would do that, then that’s where Mahina’s focus was needed.

She poured the cleaner onto the mop then set off to clean up mud. 

Her mind was ticking off things in a mental checklist.  _ Cleaning the kitchen, help Nani. Work on Lilo’s hula, help Lilo. Add more tweaks to the Saving-Stitch machine, help Stitch and Jumba. _

She continued thinking on these things as she cleaned the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. It was the last two weeks of school, and I was caught up in three classes.


	4. Family Fun Night

“There’s no way I can do this.” Lilo decided. 

Mahina almost replied with a confirmation. It was a near thing.

Just after Kumu had left, Lilo had dragged Stitch and Mahina off towards the treehouse. It had been built a couple months ago. If some days, when the sun went down, Mahina came over to complete more construction, then that was her problem.

It was a simple put up treehouse, not much decor. There were some pillows and a blanket, for late night stargazing. Lilo had brought some dolls up here, for various games she and Stitch would play. Mahina did have a notebook up here, when the treehouse was first built. She moved it back to her room before long.

Mahina had no idea why she was being included. It wasn’t her hula class, nor was she that good at ideas involving creativity. To Mahina, Lilo should just head straight to her Elvis-searching so Mahina could work on her other projects. Or help Nani with Family Fun Night- it was a coin flip.

“Just because my mom was a great hula dancer doesn’t mean I am.” Lilo complained. “The only thing I know I inherited from her is, well,  _ Nani _ .”

“Yeuch!” Stitch gagged.

Mahina was letting her legs dangle over the edge of the treehouse. 

“What if Mertle’s right and everything I do is gonna be stinky?” Lilo wondered. Mahina looked up at the tree itself. How long had it been since she’d come to sit up here? Just...just sit up here and have a moment’s peace? “Maybe l’m just stinky... like cheese.”

“Nada  _ chee _ .” Stitch assured her.

Mahina spotted flowers on the tree. Pretty pink flowers that faded into a darker pink.

“But my mom was beautiful like an orchid and graceful like a wave. I’ll never be like her.” Lilo bemoaned. She stuck the picture with tape on the inside of the treehouse before sitting herself down beside Mahina.

Stitch looked at the picture, then his two friends, then up into the tree. He climbed up.

Mahina’s shoe nearly fell off. She adjusted it back on, looking out on the area she was calling home. When she looked to Lilo, the girl now had a pink flower in her hair that matched her mother’s. 

Stitch was smiling overhead, clinging to a branch. He climbed down, grabbing a plate. (Lilo brought food sometimes- she got hungry and then forgot to bring the plates back, no biggie). He held up the shining plate, so Lilo could see herself.

She looked at her reflection, along with her mother’s picture.

They did look a lot alike.

“You... you think I can do it?” Lilo asked him.

“We do together.” Stitch promised. 

“Let’s win this thing.” Lilo cheered. “Okey-” 

“Dokey.” Stitch agreed. He glanced to Mahina.

“Eh.” Mahina nodded, smiling with a cheer she reminded herself to feel.

“Then let’s get to it!” Lilo decided.

==MHAG==

Lilo and Stitch has run off to their room. They didn’t notice when Mahina stopped off by the kitchen first.

“Nani?” Mahina poked her head into the kitchen.

Nani jolted. She dropped the spoon she was stirring with into the bowl. “Mahina!” She yelped when she realized the spoon was sinking into the batter. “Oh no no no-” Nani reached for it, but it had already sunk. She didn’t want to put her hands in the batter, there was dumpling dough all over her hands.

Mahina rushed over. She grabbed a fork from the dish drawer, using it scoop out the spoon. She held the batter covered spoon up. After trading it in for a clean spoon, Mahina got to stirring.

Nani let out a relieved breath. “Thank you, Mahina, but I-”

“You look tired. You should nap.” Mahina instructed.

Nani shook her head. She went to the sink, washing the dough and flour off her hands. “No I- I can’t. There isn’t any time. I have to finish making the food then preparing the food. I was supposed to pick up the rental for the video- ugh there’s not gonna be time for-”

“Okay! Okay.” Mahina patted Nani on the arm. “How about you sit down, okay?” She held Nani’s hand, walking her over to the nearby dining table. “Yeah. Just sit there. Ten minutes to relax, and I’ll let you know when the stuff is ready, okay?”

Nani blinked, already looking dazed. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Mahina gave Nani a prize winning smile. She changed her tone to something level, copying a flight attendant reporting the safety procedure. “Just rest your head for a minute. Studies have shown that cases of exhaustion can heighten the senses. If you start falling asleep, your body is more likely to detect dangers in that of: smoke, crashes, and or general mayhem. Should you be in danger, the body would waken you from REM sleep to-”

Nani broke off the sentence with a loud snore.

Mahina preened. Her facts had been complete lies, the body actually lost the sense of smell when sleeping. Poor exhausted Nani couldn’t see through the lies...poor thing. “And so ends our presentation. Please leave a review on Yelp!, or a funny post on Reddit.”

With the chef asleep, Mahina turned to the bursting kitchen.

She really should’ve visited  _ Ratatouille  _ first.

Still, needs must when the devil drives you.

Mahina tied on an apron. At another snore from Nani, Mahina began reciting the latest plot from a CSI Season 2 finale that still irked Mahina to this day. What a phenomenon that the show aired in this universe too- and just as infuriating in practicality as it was back in the other world.

==MHAG==

Two hazy hours later, Nani woke up from a strange dream about bugs and witty one liners.

She also awoke to a kitchen table covered in alien themed dishes. To her further astonished dismay, Mahina was pushing another tray into the oven.

“-don’t get me wrong, Grissom is a great guy, but clearly he doesn’t pay attention to his own needs. He’s going to end up pushing himself too far one of these days! How Sara puts up with it I’ll never understand-”

“Mahina!” Nani yelped.

Mahina slammed the oven shut. “Nani! You’re awake.”

Nani just gestured to the plates of food in front of her. “Did you make all of this?”

Mahina blinked. “Yes.”

Nani blinked right back. “Why?”

“You needed sleep, and the food needed to be cooked.” Mahina reported easily. “At the rate you were going, you would work yourself to exhaustion and would have fallen asleep moments after family-”

“Ugh.” Nani let her head flop back onto the table.

Mahina tilted her head. “Are you picking up the movie, or am I?”

==MHAG==

Nani had gone off to collect the rental. Mahina had stayed behind- on the promise that she wouldn’t cook anything else.

Mahina kept that promise.

But not in spirit.

She’d fixed up all the alien eyeball dumplings by the time Nani returned with the movie. All with the delightful smile of a person much more innocent than herself. 

Still, while the food was cooled for the enjoyment of others, Nani sent Mahina to go collect Jumba and Pleakley while she went after Lilo and Stitch. David was apparently on his way already.

Mahina had threatened Jumba and Pleakley with the worst punishment imaginable. 

Dealing with the wrath of Nani.

It helped that- at that exact moment- everyone in the house could Lilo screaming as Nani dragged her downstairs.

No shouts of ‘fun-fun-FUN!’ so Mahina considered it’s a win.

“Me or her. Your choice.” Mahina had told Jumba and Pleakley.

They agreed without hesitation.

Now everybody was gathered up in the living room, bundled up around the couch as the TV began to play the movie. An old one about a giant ant. Nani had originally wanted the spider one that Lilo and Stitch had loved, but Mahina had asked politely _ (definitely not threatened something with plasma guns and dropping from windows, nope, nu-uh, not she)  _ for Nani to pick something else.

So everyone was sitting on the couch- aware that they were hostages in the situation. Mahina had been in hostage situations before, it was actually one of her favorite hobbies! She was well versed in hostage negotiations. Keeping the assailant happy was a good way to help in that.

Mahina winced as she watched the giant ant ‘crush’ a human in half. She may be a reality jumper with a preference for universes based on fiction, but that didn’t mean she didn’t prefer  _ all _ of them. She liked the movies she jumped too, obviously, 

The black and white movies were Lilo’s thing, which after Stitch moved in and saw the spider-movie it was his thing. Jumba took a liking to them too- possibly for the same reasons Stitch had a year ago. Nani and Pleakley were more the rom-com type, but they put up with other films for the other three. It seemed only Mahina was interested in technicolor movies, or movies that actually had a sense of plot that didn’t revolve around love or destruction.

Another thing that made her different.

Another thing that separated her from others.

Something that proved her inhuman.

So Mahina was fine to watch this movie.

She put up with the bad green screen effect, the bad Wilhelm screams, even the bad dialogue.

Mahina had always liked the  _ ‘Mystery Science Theatre 3000’ _ movies, so that’s what she thought about while watching the movie.

Not her inhumanity.

Not Stitch’s collapsing DNA.

Not the project she had to work on-

_ (Okay maybe the project she had to work on) _

-just enjoyed mocking the film.

_ ‘Wow. Flik had to take a lot of odd jobs after Bug’s Life.’ _ Mahina thought. It made her snicker.

Nani walked in. She held in her arms the tray of goodies. “Is everyone having fun?” 

“Oh, yeah!” They all answered, no doubt fearing for their lives. 

“Great.” Nani held up the tray, loaded up with dishes. “I made sci-fi snacks. Yummy. We have deep-fried Martian cockroach.” She popped it in her mouth with a crunch. “Mm. Delicious.”

Everyone- sans Mahina- gagged.

“I think I’m gonna throw up.” Pleakley warned.

“Ew. I think someone did.” Jumba noted. 

“Uh, Nani, what are these?” David picked up one of the dishes. A bunch of dumplings, made to look white with black olive pupils.

“Alien-eyeball dumplings.” Nani revealed in a spooky voice.

Pleakley took an  _ ‘eyeball’ _ . They lifted it up to their face. “What kinda sick joke is this?” The eyeballs did indeed look a lot like their own.

“I made those.” Mahina admitted. She made sure to be looking Pleakley in the eye. “I thought you would like them.” She said plainly. To others, her voice would sound perfectly sweet. But to those that knew her? Oh this was a scary tone...

“Don’t be making her mad. Eat it.” Jumba stuffed the dumpling into Pleakley’s mouth.

Pleakley choked on the snack. They did eventually get it down their throat. “It’s good.” They praised.

Mahina smiled.

Stitch was already scarving down a lot of the snacks. He paused when he saw Lilo looking upset. “Cockroach?” Stitch offered.

“I’m too upset to eat. I’m hula-less.” Lilo groaned. She let her face flop down on the table.

“Aw, honey I’m sure you’ll come up with something.” Nani encouraged. She sat herself down on the couch besides David. “Come on. Let’s watch the movie.”

==MHAG==

_ “...are dangerous. They’ll destroy everything in their path. The authorities are asking all...” _

_ ‘Hey! The actors aren’t that bad! Guys come back, we need extras!’ _ Mahina joked to herself. She had another bite of the  _ ‘alien brains’  _ ( _ spaghetti made to look green). _

She and the others were now excitedly watching the movie. The youngers had been gifted  _ ‘alien masks’ (paper bags made out to look like aliens)  _ to watch from, while the adults wore alien headbands.

“It’s a bit redundant, don’t ya think?” Pleakley commented.

“Shush. l’m trying to watch movie.” Jumba hushed.

“Yeah.” Mahina reached her foot under the table, kicking Pleakley’s leg.

“Ow.” Pleakley complained.

On the screen, a ribcage bounced off a hill.

_ ‘Was that the director so the movie can be over?’ _ Mahina joked. She chuckled.

“Ew.” Pleakley grimaced.

Jumba sniffled. “It’s so beautiful.”

Mahina had another bite to eat. While the idea of eating brains was disgusting, so was watching the movie. For an idle minute she wondered what it would be like on that side.

What would she be doing in that movie?

Would she be stopping the ant, or helping it?

Would she aid the military attacks?

Would she be helping the main characters escape?

She was intrigued by the mutated ant- as any scientist would. She wondered more about the nature of his creation, if there could’ve been any improvement just before it’s mutation to add to the intelligence of it.

But then she remembered, Mahina didn’t actually want to go to that universe.

She could hear the adults talking behind her. Something about romance- Mahina always discontinued thoughts on that line. There was rarely any need for it all on her notice- not unless it would interfere with Stitch’s survival.

On screen, another pair of humans were debating how to handle the ant.

_ ‘I know I said I liked you but not like that.’ ‘Aww but I love you Cheryl.’ ‘My name’s not Cheryl.’ ‘Oh damn-’ ‘Who is Cheryl?!’ _ Mahina joked to herself. Honestly, her own back and forth was more interesting than the dialogue of the two characters.

Pleakley was still rambling on.

Everybody- Mahina included- shushed him.

After a few minutes of silent viewing, the movie was beginning to reach the climax. The ant attacked a store full of survivors, scaring the attendant.

_ ‘I heard you had shoes on Black Friday giveaways!’ _ Mahina snickered.

At her side, Lilo and Stitch laughed. They always did like the parts about stuff breaking.

Though Stitch’s laughter stopped fast. His paper bag eyes lit up in a bright neon green.

Mahina froze.

Stitch’s body shuddered. His third arm shot out.

Mahina sat up on her elbows.

Stitch’s body stopped shaking. He lifted up his bag, looking down at his third arm in confusion. He pulled it back it to not give it a second thought.

Mahina moved to sit up, backing up from the table.

Stitch shuddered again, rolling away to the corner. He took off his mask. Stitch seemed so confused- so lost and hurt at what was happening 

She wanted to help.

Stitch began muttering and shaking. His eyes glowed again. His fourth arm shot out. He looked at himself in further dismay, further panic, further _ why-why-why?! _

His body shuddered again. His antennae shot up. He looked at himself- lost.

Mahina sat up.

Jumba it seemed, noticed Stitch as well.

Not in time for Stitch to start screaming, jumping out at the table.

The humans all sputtered and shouted at the ruined meals. Mahina and Jumba seemed the only two to have another focus.

When Stitch finally calmed down, they were the first to run.

==MHAG==

Jumba was climbing up the nearby hill. His ship had been parked up there. Mahina followed behind him. She was smaller yes, but in no less a hurry to catch up.

Pleakley, on the other hand...

“Jumba, Jumba, slow down!” Pleakley asked, climbing up the steps to rapidly keep pace. “Where ya going with Mahina too? Include me! You included her!”

Jumba slowed to let Pleakley catch up. Mahina caught up first, continuing to climb up the hill. “Something’s wrong with Stitch.” Jumba told Pleakley.

“What is it?” Pleakley pressed.

“I don’t know.” Jumba snapped. 

“Or won’t tell?” Pleakley countered.

“Mahina- go back to house!” Jumba instructed.

She snapped her head around to glare Jumba in his four eyes. “Make me!” Mahina challenged.

Jumba met her challenging stare. There had not been many arguments between the two of them, still so new in the relationship of father-daughter. Jumba, as too unsure on if he was overstepping some Earth-norm as he learned parenting. Mahina in turn seemed unsure of how much was too much. One of the few things that settled between them was science.

He got back to his climb. Mahina at his side.

“Ow! My good eye!” Pleakley cried out, their face slapping against a plant.

Ah yes- and Pleakley at his back.

They made it to the ship. Jumba walked on, letting Mahina pass through the door.

“You don’t trust me. Fine.” Pleakley spoke on- regardless of how Mahina and Jumba were ignoring him.

Jumba went into his lab. Mahina stood at his side as he activated the large viewscreen, inputting codes.

“You won’t tell me what’s going on. I won’t tell  _ you  _ something.” Pleakley taunted. “ _ Ooh _ , what an  _ interesting  _ secret I have that I _ won’t tell _ Jumba or Mahina. Ooh,  _ my _ , it’s a  _ juicy  _ one.”

“Quiet, you.” Jumba ordered. A pod came up.

“Okay, I don’t have a secret. But don’t shut me out. Let me in. Let me-” Pleakley pleaded. He paused as Jumba dropped a handful of blue fur onto it. The pod closed itself off with glass, lighting up brightly. “What’s that?”

“Is sample of Stitch’s fur.” Jumba reported. The pod slunk away back into the computer. Mahina watched the screen. “Now we shall see.”

It lit up. Mahina saw a digital render of Stitch, complete with alien readouts. She had done a lot of good translating the numbers over the past year. She knew enough to know the numbers weren’t good on the outlook of Stitch. Worse was the column beside the readouts, showing a steady decrease. All complete with flashing warning lights.

“No. No.” Jumba shook his head. He slammed his fists on the computer. Mahina watched with a cold sort of detachment. Pleakley jumped back, startled. “ _ Those idiot police! _ I hoped this day would never come.”

“What are you talking about? What is wrong with Stitch?” Pleakley asked.

“The police interfered with something in the creation of Stitch.” Mahina answered. Pleakley eyed her. “It’s reasonable, I think.” She turned to Jumba. “Am I right?”

But Jumba had a look of pain on his face. “During his creation, Stitch was never fully charged.”

“You mean, like, electron charges?” Mahina asked, tilting her head. “Charges that come on a molecular scale?”

“Yes.” Jumba confirmed, sounding heavy at the recollection of the past and what it meant now. 

“Since they weren’t fully charged, I can see how that would be a problem.” Mahina stated. Without it, Stitch would destabilize far worse than it had looked in the movie. Molecular destabilization was the fragmentation of Stitch’s being on the deepest level. It would be a painful demise, pain so deep in bordered on torturous.

“Now his circuits are going haywire.” Jumba stated.

“That’s why he was freaking out.” Pleakley realized.

“He can’t control it.” Jumba defended.

“And it’s only going to get worse.” Mahina explained.

“If it continues, his circuits will burn themselves out like supernova.” Jumba confirmed.

“Can ya...Can ya fix him?” Pleakley asked.

“I must! Or my little Stitch will shut down...for good.” Jumba looked up at the screen. It was still flashing in impatience as Stitch’s numbers continued to fall.

Mahina watched as well, thinking about the hundred ways this could go either really well until really wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being late- this whole month has been heavy. School starting up and actually heavy stuff in life- writing kinda took a step back. I know this isn't much, may even be a bit depressing, but I like it. Please leave some reviews if you have anything to say!


	5. A Supercomputer Instead of A Brain

Come morning, Mahina had found out that Lilo and Stitch were going to look out for their hulas, with the guidance of the King. She had to work hard to avoid being spotted by them as they rushed out to find the hovercraft.

She didn’t tell them where they were hiding.

Mahina thought it would work better if they found it themselves.

She was in the ship all day. She and Jumba were working on the equations for the chamber to restore Stitch. It had been a long silent morning of calculating.

At some point in the morning, Jumba seemed to  _ notice _ that Mahina was there. Logically, he knew she’d been there all morning. His brain had just finally taken a break from the math to understand what that meant.

“Where are Lilo and Stitch?” He asked.

Mahina hummed. She paused in her calculations- all by hand. “Lilo had the idea to use Elvis to find her hula. So she and Stitch are running all around the island to where Elvis has been.” 

“That is so?” Jumba hummed.

Mahina nodded. “They’ll be dusteacted for most of the day on that. Lilo hasn’t found the hovercraft yet. I told her she couldn’t use mine because I’m upgrading it. ”

“You are not off with Lilo creating hula?”

“No. Why should I?” Mahina asked. “This is  _ way _ more important.” She reached over, grabbing the joystick. She moved about the designs on screen until it lit up. “Hey do you think we could add a lawn mower?”

“We could hurt Stitch!” Jumba gasped out.

“We’d use the  _ motor _ , not the  _ blades _ .” Mahina excused with an offended tone. “Could it work?”

“Do we have a lawn mower?” Jumba asked.

“I can get us a lawn mower.” Mahina offered. “It would only take me ten minutes...five if I use the hovercraft.”

Jumba smiled, proud. He typed in the data into the supercomputer. It whirled, rushing about as it took in the information. The screen pinged. “It could work.”

Mahina puffed her chest, matching Jumba’s posture. “I’ll go and get it!” She made to rush for the exit, pausing. “I’ll wait to see what else we need.”

Jumba burst out laughing. He reached over, ruffling the girl’s hair. She made a noise of annoyance, trying to straighten her hair back out.

==MHAG==

After a few more minutes of calculating and brainstorming, the machine’s blueprints were almost complete. That didn’t make it any less frustrating when plans didn’t work. In fact, it only made Jumba and Mahina more frustrated. 

Mahina especially.

Was it really too much to ask that it work the components together?! It shouldn’t be that hard. 

The computer beeped.

“Stupid supercomputer.” Jumba complained.

“Can I use  _ it  _ for parts?” Mahina requested, glaring up at the screen.

Jumba hummed, thoughtful. He didn’t tell her  _ ‘no’. _

The door to the lab opened. Mahina didn’t pay it any mind. “I know, Mom, but Jumba, Mahina, and I have been very busy.” Pleakley explained tiredly. They walked over to the father and daughter. “My mom says hi.”

“Yeah, hi-” Jumba waved, not paying attention.

“Hi Momma Pleakley!” Mahina cheered with a wave.

“They’re waving. I can’t talk about it, Mom. It’s top secret.” Pleakley explained. “I said I was sorry.”

Mahina sat upright. She leaned on the computer as the screen started dashing around. “Come on...come on...!”

“That’s it.” Jumba spoke under his breath. It flashed a green light. “That’s it!”

“Woohoo!” Mahina cheered. She leapt in air, fist pumping.

“I have to go, Mom. Talk to you Sunday.” Pleakley hung up on their mother. They ran up to the computer.

Jumba turned to him. “We finished plans for new fusion chamber that will recharge Stitch.”

“Way to go.” Pleakley praised. 

“But we don’t have alien technology to build it.” Jumba admitted.

“Way to burst a bubble.” Pleakley pouted.

“We can adapt!” Mahina cheered. She pushed a button on the computer. It shifted to show all the bits of tech they had to steal. “There’s Earth tech that would do the same job.”

“We’ll have to find primitive Earth machinery and just hope it works.” Jumba explained. “Mahina will-”

“I can get that stuff no prob!” Pleakley volunteered. Jumba and Mahina exchanged a look. “I can get all those parts from the house.”

“Pleak-” Mahina started. The lab alarm started blaring. The red light flashed to cover the entire darkened room.

“Agh! Stitch is having another episode! They’re getting worse!” Jumba explained, dismay clear in his voice. He turned to the other two people in his lab. Well he turned to the shortest one, who happened to be standing in front of the taller one. “Hurry. These parts are crucial to saving Stitch’s life. Nothing can go wrong!”

Mahina nodded, rushing off to get the parts. Pleakley ran off too with a steely look in their single eye. 

==MHAG==

Mahina’s first step was to get a motor from a lawnmower. Luckily, the hovercraft could move a lot. She’d given it the upgrades to last longer than Lilo’s hovercraft, and to take on more weight. 

She came back to the lab with half the needed materials. There wasn’t even a need to steal any of it! Somebody just threw this perfectly good lawnmower away! Mahina just had to fix it up. All the other stuff had been found in what Kauai had for a junkyard.

The supercomputer was easy to work with. Jumba had shown her how to do it over the months, so Mahina knew how to call up the blueprints. Once they were displayed, Mahina could get to work. 

She was working for an hour when Jumba came back. Mahina was proud of herself for what she’d been able to do so far. 

“Welcome back!” Mahina cheered. “I was able to get the motor from the lawnmower. There was a problem with the coffee maker, but I was able to get a lot of glass!” She pointedly excitedly to a box filled with glass. She held up her palms, both clear of cuts. “Without injury, I add! It should be enough for the chamber.”

Jumba, who had a haggardly appearance when he came in, smiled in relief. “You did better than Pleakley. They went off to distract David.”

Mahina winced. “We gotta stop that magazine subscription.”

“They would get it back.” Jumba ran his hand over his face.

Mahina stood up. She grabbed the box of supplies that Jumba brought in. “Yeah but we wouldn’t get them for a bit. Even a brief respite would be good.”

“Pleakley crying would be less.” Jumba complained.

“How do they get the octaves that high?” Mahina wondered.

“I don’t know.” Jumba mused. He shook off the musings, picking up a soldering mask. “We should get started right away! There’s no telling how long Stitch has left.”

Mahina nodded, her face set and stern. She knew they had until Lilo’s performance- just at the end of the week. They had less than a handful of days to save Stitch’s life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this fic was so inactive for so long. With everything happening in my life, there just wasn’t time for Mahina. I’ve made time now for her. My goal is to finish this fic before summer is out. Yay! Fingers crossed.  
Okay, I’m trying to be more active on my tumblr blog (authora97writingupdates) and the instagram (authora97) account. I ask questions and post pictures on both, or just reblogging some writing stuff from tumblr cause those posts are calling me out and they know it.  
Thanks to everyone that’s stuck around with MHAG too!


	6. From Failure We Learn

Another thing Mahina had learned when inventing: you can’t forget to eat food. She would’ve gathered some herself, only she was stuck deep inside finishing the device. Pleakley had vanished so they couldn’t be sent off. So that left...nobody.

Mahina couldn’t wait for it to be done. Together, she and Jumba spent the majority of the day working on it. That it had taken as long as it did was a testament of how hard they were working.

She was really hungry...oh if only there were leftovers from the family fun night. Those all looked so good...great now she was hungry. Dangit!

Mahina dropped a wrench onto the floor. She let herself fall back with an echoing thud. She groaned. “I love science as much as the next super genius mega awesome child but...are we DONE YET?!”

Jumba went over to the super computer. He typed in lines of code, pressing enter. The screen loaded then turned green.

“YES!” Jumba cheered triumphantly.

Mahina let out a half-hearted cheer.

“Go, fetch Pleakley!” Jumba instructed.

“No way, you do it!” Mahina complained.

“Hey, I’m in charge so I say you go!”

“I’m more tired...child labor stuff.”

“Well I am the boss.”

“I’m the boss, we know that!”

“No I am!”

“You do it!”

“No, I am the one in charge! You do it!”

“I don’t wan-” Mahina groaned. She flopped against the floor. “We’re idiots.” She pulled out a phone. She pressed the buttons on it. It buzzed. 

_ “Hello?” _ Pleakley greeted.

Jumba groaned, running his hand over his face.

==MHAG==

Pleakley was let into the lab. 

Mahina was standing by the covered fusion chamber. Jumba excitedly dragged Pleakly towards the machine.

“Three. Two. One.” Jumba and Mahina pulled the tarp off the fusion chamber. “Ta-da!”

Pleakley smiled widely at the machine.

“There it is, Pleakley. The fusion chamber, the only thing that can save Stitch.” Jumba tapped the glass top, proud.

“It’s amazing.” Pleakley praised them both.

“We worked really hard on it.” Mahina added in.

“Just another work of genius.” Jumba humble bragged. 

“Oh, oh, can I switch it on? Please, please?” Pleakley begged.

“Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no. That is extremely delicate machine. It takes superior mind.” Jumba countered.

Mahina stepped forward, taking a hold on the bicycle handlebar that they had used for a lever. They left the tassels on, purely for how it made the fusion chamber look overall. Jumba put his hand over her’s. Together they pulled down the switch.

“Heh, thanks to us, crisis is over.” Jumba noted.

The chamber began to come to a dangerous red glow. “Dive!” Mahina shouted.

On command, the aliens jumped back from the chamber. Just in time too. The fusion chamber sparked out, before seeming to implode on itself. Mahina blew out a frustrated breath. It was fine, she could work with this.

“Jumba? Jumba? What happened?” Pleakley asked.

She pushed herself to her feet. Brushing off the wrinkles in her clothes, she walked over to the super computer. It came on without a sound. Mahina started the work up again.

“That’s it, Pleakley. It’s over. I can’t build a new fusion chamber.” Jumba bemoaned, mourning the chamber and Stitch together. He paused, hearing the computer. Him and Pleakley looked over. They saw Mahina typing away at the computer. “What are you doing, girl?”

Mahina hit enter. The computer gave a negative answer. “Working.”

“It’s no use. The chamber is ruined.” Jumba threw his arm over the destroyed remains of the chamber. “We failed Stitch.”

“Nah, the first one just failed.” Mahina countered. She was still typing away at the computer. “We just have to see where it went wrong, then make it better.”

“Yeah!” Pleakley cheered. “You can do that. I mean, you built the first one.”

“I didn’t build first one!” Jumba admitted. “I ordered it... from catalogue.”

“A catalogue?” Pleakley repeated.

“They still had to have a working system when they made it. If they figured it out, we can too.” Mahina informed him.

She was whirled back. Jumba was by her side now. His four eyes full of grief already, tears too. “Stop, Mahina.”

“Why? There’s still a chance.” Mahina replied, confused but not surprised that Jumba was giving in this easily.

“And now there is no hope for my little creation. Jumba has failed family.” Jumba sat down, slumping against the computer.

Mahina sighed, shaking her head. She gave Jumba a pat on the head. “Okay. We can mope for a few minutes. After that, we’re going to get back to work.”

“But-”

“Did you get Stitch from a catalogue?” Mahina interrupted.

Jumba stuttered. “No?”

“You still built  _ him _ .” Mahina reminded him. “You helped us build the upgrades to the house. To the spaceship. Our hovercrafts. You’re an evil genius.”

“Jumba is not feeling like evil genius-” Jumba ran his hand over his face.

“I want to hear you say it.” Mahina insisted. “ _ My name is Jumba. _ ..well?”

“My name Jumba.” Jumba obeyed, half heartedly.

“ _ And I’m an evil genius. _ ” Mahina instructed.

“And- and I’m an evil genius.” Jumba recited, a bit more excited. “No, I... I don’t like to brag.”

Mahina patted his head again. “All we did was fail this one time. There’s not a lot of time to fail for good. We failed just once. If you had failed just once, you wouldn’t be here! If I failed back then at sticking around like you wanted, I wouldn’t be here with you know! I don’t want to think about how that would’ve gone.”

Jumba had to agree with that. He couldn’t imagine life on Earth without Mahina. He hadn’t intended to care for the people of Earth. He saw them as things for his experiment to destroy, tools in his plans for anarchy. But Mahina gave him the chance to see the other side. Looking at her back then, Jumba saw he couldn’t wreak havoc on her planet. He couldn’t leave her alone there either.

If he hadn’t the courage to adopt her, Mahina could still be living on those streets. Or worse: she could be living on the continent, in one of those ‘foster families’ Bubbles had tried to send Mahina and Lilo into.

Jumba didn’t want to imagine it. Not when he was seeing Mahina now. She was standing so proud by the computer. There was a bright idea in her amber eyes. That kind of determination that came with being young and full of hope. She wasn’t an evil genius, but she was a genius like him. 

“ _ From failure we learn. Success, not so much. We gotta keep moving forward. _ ” Mahina told him. “Ready to commence a second test?” She offered.

She wasn’t going to give up any time soon. Mahina worked like that. Over the past year, Jumba had seen how Mahina worked. She never gave up. No matter how many times her machines broke down, she went back to work on it without missing a beat.

If Jumba didn’t give in, Mahina would probably go on to build the thing herself. 

_ ‘Well...I can’t let her take full credit.’ _

“Mahina, my wrench!”

Mahina smiled proudly at him. “Have Pleakley get it. I’m working.” She turned to the computer, typing away again.

Jumba turned to instruct Pleakley on just that. He saw the alien wiping at their eye, clearly having just been crying. “Pleakley!”

“I wasn’t crying!” Pleakely lied, brushing their arm on their face. They were trying very hard to hide the tears. It wasn’t working.


	7. Badness

The next day, a hula girl was preparing her act to go solo. She was looking longfully out into the distance. She wondered if it was fruitless to hope Stitch would come back. Even for all the damage he had done, the hula girl still wanted her friend back.

==MHAG==

Mahina dropped her wrench. It made a loud echoing clang. She didn’t even mind. She stood up, her head peeking over the chamber. “Did we do it?”

Jumba lowered his own wrench. “I...I think we did.” 

Mahina smiled brightly. She walked around, reaching up for the bicycle handlebar. She had her hand on it when Jumba touched her wrist to pause her.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Jumba asked.

“It will.” She promised.

“She’s right, Jumba.” Pleakley came up, putting a hand on Jumba’s shoulder.

The gestures of comfort seemed to work. He took a step back.

Mahina gleefully grabbed the handlebar.

==MHAG==

The hula girl was still looking out towards the woods. It was almost her turn. There was no sign of her dance partner. She let herself feel a moment’s disappointment.

“This is it.” The hula girl told herself.

Just when she was about to give up completely, there was a rustling in the bushes.

“You’ll do great.”

“Stitch?” She asked.

A tiny blue alien was coming out. He was curled in on himself, hiding himself in shame.

==MHAG==

Mahina was about to pull down the switch- to prove to Jumba that they weren’t failures in inventing- when alarms went off.

Turning to the computer screen, both scientists watched in dismay as Stitch’s numbers dropped to lethal.

They were almost out of time.

“No!” Jumba yelled.

“What’s happening?” Pleakley asked.

Mahina went to flip a switch on the chamber. They would need to make it mobile. There wasn’t time to grab something to carry it.

“His circuits are about to blow.” Jumba answered Pleakley. “We have to get him in the fusion chamber now!”

“Shouldn’t we test it?” Pleakley asked.

“There isn’t time.” Jumba shouted.

Mahina grabbed a second handle, dragging the now floating chamber like it was a red wagon.

Jumba noticed this, staring at Mahina and the chamber in confused delight. “What did you do?”

“Added hoverboard tech to the bottom.” Mahina answered. “For transport.”

“You are  _ genius _ !” Jumba patted the girl on her back. Mahina soaked in the praise like a dying flower taking in water.

She would really appreciate it later. You know, when her friend wasn’t about to die.

==MHAG==

It was just three little scratches. Three tiny things on her cheek, not even noticeable. They would be gone before long.

But it was enough for Stitch.

He was convinced now. He was all bad. No more goodness.

He’d hurt Lilo. How could he fall so far?

He ran from her, muttering apologies while his eyes flashed a dangerous green. He ignored Lilo’s pleas for him to come back.

==MHAG==

Lilo abandoned her hula championship. She couldn’t perform a hula about the power of friendship while she was leaving her best friend behind. Stitch needed her. Lilo would be there for him.

She ran into the woods behind the hula tournament. “Stitch! Come back!” Lilo couldn’t see any sign of the tiny blue experiment. All that was there was Jumba and Pleakley. “Have you seen Stitch?”

“We thought he was with you.” Jumba admitted, panicking now.

Nani and David raced over. They had watched Lilo leave the stage, with no explanation. “Lilo, baby, what happened?” Nani asked.

“I’m fine! Something’s wrong with Stitch.” Lilo explained. Nani and David’s eyes widened in concern.

“It’s not his fault. He’s malfunctioning.” Jumba explained. “And if we don’t find him soon...” Jumba glanced over his shoulder, trying to spot Mahina. Only the little girl was gone with the fusion chamber. “Where did Mahina go?” He asked Pleakley.

Pleakley looked back. “She was just there a second ago!”

==MHAG==

There are some advantages to knowing the future. Mahina had a year to prepare for Stitch’s breakdown. She had been working tirelessly for a week on the life saving project. Though she could understand the need for dramatics, this was her ohana. Mahina wasn’t going to risk his life over the drama of waiting until the last minute to save him.

That wasn’t fair. It wasn’t nice. Being among her ohana for a year had done wonders on reminding her of the wonders of kindness.

So no, she didn’t tell Jumba and Pleakley that she was breaking from the pack to go chasing after Stitch. That she knew where he was going to be in his retreat, so she could cut him off on his path. She would make sure they could find her. Stitch was the priority, and she doubted they would be mad for long.

She found Stitch, glitching out in the woods. 

“Stitch?” Mahina prompted.

Stitch flinched away from her. He held up three arms, the fourth stuck trying to sink back into his body. “No! Stay back! Stitch...Stitch bad!”

Mahina crouched down, holding up her palm towards Stitch. “Okay, okay. I’ll stay back.”

Stitch seemed to relax slightly at that. He was still curling on himself, trying to get his third arm back to sink back into himself. It wasn’t going well. His antennae kept poking up from his head. In some tilts of his head, Mahina could see flashes of green. The same was true for his patches of light blue fur- the bright green beneath his skin shined brighter from them.

He needed help soon.

Mahina wasn’t going to let him get hurt. Not anymore. She just...she had to be smart about this. “Your...badness...is getting worse, isn’t it?”

Pitifully, Stitch nodded. He ran his claws over his head, trying to shake the ‘badness’ out. “Stitch wants to be good. Stitch...Stitch hurt Lilo.”

“Oh.” Mahina replied. “I’m so sorry, Stitch.”

“Stitch might hurt ohana next. Stitch can’t control it!” Stitch looked at his traitorous claws, the ones that had already hurt his best friend. “Stitch doesn’t want to be bad.”

Mahina nodded, understanding him. “Jumba can fix the badness.” She explained.

Stitch shook his head.

“Jumba made you, Stitch. He knows how to fix you. He’s been working on it since Family Fun Night.” Mahina explained. She patted her hand on the fusion chamber. “You need to get inside this. It’s the only thing that can make the  _ ‘badness’  _ go away.”

“No. No, Stitch too bad! Lilo said!” Stitch explained. “Stitch has to go away!”

“Go where?”

“Go in Jumba’s ships! Get...get far away! Then Stitch cannot hurt ohana again.”

“And what if your  _ ‘badness’  _ happens again when you’re flying?” Mahina asked. Stitch went quiet, fretting. “What if the ship crashes?”

“No-”

“And it crashes onto our ohana?”

“NO!” Stitch’s eyes flared green.

Mahina held up her palms again. “Okay, okay! We don’t want that. That’s bad, right?” Stitch fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands. “So we have to fix it. So you don’t crash the ship. Is that alright? Then you can go far away, keep your badness from hurting anyone. Okay?”

Stitch whined.

“Come on, Stitch, this will keep you from ever hurting anyone again.” Mahina promised. She pressed a small button on the chamber, connecting it to Pleakley’s communicator. If Pleakley hadn’t wanted her to do that, then the communicator shouldn’t have been left unattended while Pleakley hung out with David. It wouldn’t connect like a proper call, it would just guide the group to Mahina like a compass. “Okay?”

Stitch whined again. His body glowing a faint green. It made Mahina’s heart race, her flight-or-fight instincts pleading with her to choose  _ ‘flight’ _ . She wouldn’t. Mahina couldn’t leave him, not like this. She had to help save him. She needed to make him well again. For Lilo, and Jumba, and everybody.

“Okay.” Stitch accepted.

==MHAG==

Lilo followed the pointed arrow on Pleakley’s communicator. When it had started beeping, Jumba was the first to note it pointing in a specific direction. Lilo had grabbed it, immediately knowing it must have been Mahina leading them to Stitch. Mahina was always doing stuff like that to help Lilo find her hoverboard.

She wasn’t even checking to see if anyone was following her. She needed to get to Stitch. Lilo had to say she was sorry. Stitch wasn’t bad, he was just sick. Jumba had said Stitch needed help. Lilo was so focused on herself, she never noticed how bad Stitch really was.

They could fix him. They could fix her friend.

Lilo could see something glowing green in the distance. She ran faster. She had to get to Stitch and Mahina.

What she found made Lilo want to cry.

Mahina was closing a glass lid over Stitch. Lilo could finally see how tired and small he looked, curled up in a ball in the chamber. The glass lid closed with a pop. The fusion chamber seemed so out of place in this forest, full of bright colorful flowers and healthy green trees. Stitch himself looked more out of place than ever. 

“Stitch!” Lilo cried out.

Mahina turned to her. “Lilo!”

Stitch tiredly lifted an eye open. “L-Lilo?”

“Stitch!” Lilo rushed over to the glass.

“No, too dangerous.” Stitch cautioned.

Lilo shook her head, tears in her eyes.

“Lilo, help me get this down.” Mahina was trying to pull on a bicycle handlebar.

Lilo didn’t hesitate. Together, they pulled the lever down. The chamber glowed as bright green as his glitches. 

“Stitch, you’re gonna be okay now.” Lilo promised Stitch. She knelt by the chamber, pressing her palm to the warmed glass. Stitch blinked slowly at her. “Please be okay.”

He lifted his hand to Lilo’s. His claw matching with Lilo’s. “Stitch sorry.” His arm fell, and he stilled..

“Stitch?” Lilo asked, panicking.

Mahina put her hand on Lilo’s shoulder. “He’s just sleeping. He- it’s a lot, and he needs to rest to help it settle. Or else it would hurt. I promise, he’s just sleeping.”

Lilo wiped her tear covered cheeks. She could barely hear what Mahina was saying. Stitch just wasn’t moving. It was hard to believe that he was sleeping when he had been so sick like Jumba was saying.

“Hurry, before... Oh, no!” Jumba ran into the clearing, stumbling at the sight.

Lilo stayed by Stitch’s side. Mahina went off behind them to the arriving adults. “He’s just...he’s almost fully charged but he’s...it looks really bad. He’s going to get better...he has to.”

“Oh, no.” Nani gasped.

Mahina brought Jumba to the chamber. Lilo watched as Jumba checked a computer screen on the chamber, trying to read the results. 

Jumba’s broken hearted expression said it all. “We’re too late.”

Everyone gasped.

Jumba lifted the lever. The lid lifted up. He took Stitch in his arms, hugging him tight. Mahina hugged his side, trying to give him comfort as best she could.

“No!” Lilo took Stitch from his arms.

“Lilo, wait. There’s nothing you can do.” Jumba tried to break the news gently to the hula girl. Mahina held his other hand, squeezing tight.

Lilo sat on the ground, Stitch in her lap. She was holding him so tight her fingers were paling.

“He’s gone.” Jumba spoke, in the disbelieving stage of grief.

Lilo still held onto Stitch.

“Oh, honey, come here.” Nani tried to bring comfort.

“No!” Lilo snapped.

Nani stepped back.

“Stitch. I’m so sorry. I kept saying how I needed you. But you needed me more.” She pulled the flower from her hair. She thought about their hula, how it seemed so painfully poetic that Stitch was dying just like the man in the story. Only Lilo wasn’t a powerful goddess that could bring him back to life. She had already tried. She rested the pink flower on Stitch’s chest. “You’re my ohana, Stitch.” She was starting to lose herself to sobs. “And I’ll always love you.”

Mahina squeezed tighter to Jumba’s hand. She wasn’t crying, not like Lilo. Instead she was letting out breaths that sounded painful. Jumba wanted to bring her some kind of comfort in this. He was barely handling the loss himself. How could he help her too?

Slowly, though nobody was watching, the counter on the chamber started to rise.

Just like Stitch’s stomach, as he started breathing again.

Just like Stitch’s claw, as he rested it onto Lilo’s hand.

“Stitch not bad.” He spoke softly, getting himself used to the new strength behind his words and body. “Stitch fluffy!”

“Stitch!” Lilo cheered.

Mahina let out a breath of relief. A whole year’s worth of stress rushing out of her. It had worked. She had made it work, still. She had managed to get Stitch alive without that painful crashing ship, and falling down a mountain. She had done it!

“But how is it possible?” Pleakley asked, laughing in delight.

“It’s not.” Jumba

“I’m not questioning it!” Mahina rushed over to Lilo and Stitch, throwing herself into the hug. All three of the little ones laughed. 

“Stitch okay now?” Stitch asked.

“No more nightmares.” Lilo and Mahina hugged him tighter.

Everyone in the ohana circled them. It was a huge group hug. They laughed and rejoiced that Stitch was alive again. They were happy. There was a happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, this was gonna be two chapters. But then I’m like, the movie was traumatizing enough with this death scene. I won’t be able to take it in two-parts. So I made it one single chapter, for the sake of everyone.   
Oh and the fic is almost over! It’s just an epilogue left, then it’s done.


	8. Chapter 8

Trevor waited in his seat, going over his notes. Not much had changed in them from the previous visit with Mahina. Mr Bubbles reported some odd behavior from her part of Hawaii but nothing too dangerous. No more alien sightings or the like. While it was possible that such an event could’ve happened and be properly hidden, Trevor suspected Bubbles would’ve found a way to notice anyway.

He saw he had given Mahina homework.  _ ‘Make a blender. Lilo & Stitch in hula contest, Mahina excludes self.’  _ He would check with her on these things. Mahina did a good job reminding Trevor of her completed homework whenever it involved something technical. She was less eager when it involved talking to other people.

His other notes were more personal things. Bits of Mahina’s day to day life picked up from what she was saying.

From all reports, she could’ve looked like a normal seven year old. Normal in her situation, anyway. She played with her peers, though not often. This was more likely related to Mahina being an introvert than anything troubling. She dealt with emotions in a very intense way, reminding Trevor of the Vulcans from _ Star Trek. _ Funny enough Mahina dealt with emotions the same way too: _ pretending they didn’t exist _ . Most of the things she did were in service to another person, sharing their burdens without being asked- not verbally, Mahina seemed to take any sign of struggle as someone asking her for help.

Trevor made a note to himself to call Mr Jookiba. There were some things he had to tell the larger alien in regards to Mahina’s mental health, and what it would mean to keep her living there. In order to keep any issues from arising, Mr Jookiba would need to know what was expected of him for keeping Mahina happy and healthy.

That still meant Trevor had to talk to Mahina first. Knowing her current headspace would give Trevor somewhere to start with Mr Jookiba.

Someone knocked on his door. “Come in, Mahina.”

The door to his office opened. Mahina skipped in, notebook in one hand and a water bottle in the other. A pen was stuck in her hair, no doubt ‘borrowed’ from his waiting area. “Hi Dr Hunter.” She took her usual spot, splaying out the notebook. She filled her empty hand with the pen from her hair.

“Hi Mahina.” He glanced at the door as it closed, spotting Mr Jookiba outside sitting boredly in a chair. Trevor might’ve seen Pleakley there too- the door had closed too much for that perspective.

Trevor put his attention back on his patient. The seven year old was happily working on an equation. One she’d been working on awhile, by the look of it.

“I wanna know. How did the hula thing go? For Lilo and Stitch?” Trevor asked. “Did you end up helping?”

“Oh, Lilo dropped out.” Mahina explained. She sat herself down on the couch. She pulled out her notebook and pencils, going to work. Whatever was already working in her head wouldn’t wait for simple pleasantries. “Stitch almost died, but Lilo didn’t know it for a while. I tried to tell her. Lilo was just really focused on the hula- she needed to prove she was like her mom.”

“Wow.” Trevor glanced down to his notebook. Indeed, he had a note that Mahina brushed off her own issues in favor of how others were reacting. Most of the time it seemed like if her ohana had no peace, Mahina had no peace. Trevor didn’t want to accidentally give her a complex about helping others. He needed to remind her to focus on her own issues, that they mattered too. “How did you feel about it?”

Mahina shifted, shrugging while scribbling another equation. “It was...I mean it happened. He’s fine now though. Pops, Pleakley, and I were working on a thing that would cure him. There was some error, but I was able to fix it. Stitch was fine, healthier than ever after.”

“That’s good. But I didn’t ask about Stitch.” Trevor reminded her. Mahina smiled, the corners of her mouth tight. “I asked about you.”

“I was fine.” Mahina replied. “Everything was handled. It’s all good, I’m all good.”

Trevor nodded, holding back on writing a note just yet. “Okay. How was everyone else? Were they taking things okay?”

“It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Yet Lilo cancelled her hula to see Stitch get better.” Trevor commented.

“I mean, it was a big deal but it’s not a big deal.” Mahina explained.

“Was it like...a big deal for everyone else but not you?” Trevor asked.

“Yeah.” Mahina answered. “It was fine.”

Trevor was beginning to think Mahina had a different definition for that word. “When people around us get hurt, it’s okay to be scared.”

Mahina scribbled with the pen. She didn’t look up from it. 

“Even if it seems scary. It’s okay if you’re scared when someone you care about is in trouble.”

“I wasn’t scared. Everything was gonna be fine.” Mahina grumbled.

Trevor nodded. “And you’re right, it was all fine.”

Mahine shifted in her spot.

“Wasn’t it scary in the middle, before you knew?”

Mahina kept on writing.

Trevor paused a moment. He glanced down at his notes, adding a small blurb. “I get it, that you don’t want to talk about it. There’s this concern that I’m not listening, right? Or that I won’t take it seriously, like I’m not listening to what you’re saying?”

The little girl said nothing. 

“Because then people do this thing, where they’re pretending to listen.” Trevor explained.

Mahina was scribbling on the paper. She was quite frantic with it.

“When instead it’s just in one ear and out the other.” Trevor put down his pencil. “You know?”

She blinked, looking up at him. “...yes.” Then immediately she went back to scribbling. 

Trevor pursed his lips. Yeah this wasn’t going anywhere. A quick check of his watch showed he had another fifty minutes with her.

==MHAG==

After the session, Mahina walked out into the waiting room. She sat with Pleakley to work silently. Mr Jookiba came in with boisterousness- eager steps that almost made Trevor feel bad.

“Your daughter is a very smart girl.” Trevor began after Mr Jookiba sat down. “A genius- brightest of her generation, I’ll say.”

Mr Jookiba preened. “Yes. Mahina has shown a great deal of brains, despite being human.”

_ ‘He’s an alien, Trevor, remember he’s just an alien.’  _ “Even with all this intelligence, there are still some things where I see Mahina struggling.”

His preen fell back, shifting to concern. “What? What is wrong- what do we fix?”

“It’s not as easy as fixing a broken wire or faulty code.” Trevor reminded Mr Jookiba. “This is an emotional issue.” Trevor could see in his four eyes how the alien started to step back from the conversation. Neither father nor daughter were good with emotions, it seems. “Mahina struggles in handling her own problems. She internalizes so much that she can’t articulate her own problems- how she’s feeling, what’s going on with her, or anything that involves focusing on her emotions. They overwhelm her.”

“Mahina does not get overwhelmed!” Jookiba argued. “She is a strong earth girl!”

“That she is. One of the strongest I’ve seen, given the circumstances.” Trevor praised. “But she can’t stop helping to take time for herself.”

Mr Jookiba blinked his fours eyes, confused. Trevor thought about a different approach through this issue. 

“She explained an incident where Stitch was sick?” Trevor asked.

Mr Jookiba nodded. “Yes. Very...sick.”

“He almost died, by her words.” Trevor explained. “Yet whenever she explained it, it was always how others reacted and how nobody noticed the issues except for her. Yet Mahina didn’t share her concerns with others, because she isn’t used to expressing herself in a healthy way.”

“She did share concerns with me! We helped save Stitch.”

“Did she share her worry over Stitch’s life?” Trevor asked. “How her friend was dying, or show any distress over it? She’s a child, children are emotional in times of death in the family. As her father, you must have seen something.”

“She-!” Mr Jookiba started off loud and energized, like the example was right on the tip of his tongue. He stalled. “She-” He was less energized, waiting for that memory to pop up in his mind. “She helped Pleakley.”

Trevor nodded. “And you, I imagine.” Mr Jookiba silently nodded. “But did anyone talk to her?”

Mr Jookiba shook his head.

Trevor leaned forward in his seat. “Mr Jookiba, I can see how much you love your daughter, even though she’s from another planet. You need to understand that these issues are small right now, but they could become bigger as Mahina grows older. I recommend getting her a journal. It’s a healthy outlet for her to let out her emotions.”

“Then I read it to understand?” Mr Jookiba asked.

Trevor had a flashback to many, many arguments between his sister and their parents about them reading her diary, or telling them that Trevor had read her diary. “NO!” Jookiba tilted her head in confusion. “It’s an invasion of her privacy. That’s bad.”

“Right.”

“So you understand, Mr Jookiba, that you can’t read her diary?” Trevor prompted.

“Yes.” Mr Jookiba answered, though it didn’t feel as sincere as it could’ve been.

“Ever.” Trevor went on.

“Yes!”

“Because if you breach her privacy, she will never trust you again.” Trevor warned.

Mr Jookiba opened his mouth to confirm. Trevor’s words hitting before he did. “She won’t?” Trevor shook his head. “Okay. No reading little girl’s diary.”

Trevor smiled, relieved. “Good. I’ll see you next time.”

==MHAG==

They were walking back to the house. Or that had been the plan before Jumba took then to a store. Not just any store, a girly girl store clearly made for pre-teen girls. To Mahina’s confusion and Pleakley’s delight. Immediately on entering the shop, Pleakley wandered off in search of makeup and accessories. Jumba and Mahina were offset by all the bright girl colors.

Mahina was silent though as she followed Jumba around the shop. She considered the reasons they must be here, concluding that Jumba just wanted to give Pleakley a reward for coming along. Mahina hadn’t really enjoyed sitting by Pleakley after her session, cause all Pleakley wanted to do was talk more. That wasn’t a thing Mahina could handle after therapy, and Pleakley should get used to that.

Okay yeah so maybe getting Pleakley something nice was a good repayment plan. If the discomfort in Mahina’s chest could go away by getting them so gaudy makeup and cheap jewelry, then she could stand it. 

Jumba picked up a book. Mahina could hardly tell it was a book, the cover was so brightly pink and rainbow sequins. Mahina bet that Pleakley would like it. She must’ve made a face, cause Jumba put the book down. 

“What do you think?” Jumba asked.

She hummed. “Well I don’t think Pleakley even likes notebooks.”

“No, no. Not for Pleakley.” Jumba replied. “For you. What do you think?”

Mahina eyed the sparkly book. “But I already have a notebook.”

“This is not for science.” Jumba explained.

“But you said it was for me.” Mahina replied, confused.

“Yes. But not for science.”

That didn’t help any, it only made Mahina more confused. “...I do math in the other one too?”

“It is for feelings.” Jumba explained. “You write down your feelings there.”

Mahina eyed the book differently now. She reeled back from it, like it was on fire. “Why?”

Jumba seemed to struggle with an answer for that. “It’s a thing humans do, yes? An activity you would enjoy?”

“No.” Mahina answered. “I’m a private person, I don’t want my thoughts on paper where anyone could read it!”

“Well Dr Hunter says you do it, so you do it.” Jumba explained.

Mahina dropped her jaw, trying again and again to pick it up. “Can-”

“No.”

“How about-”

“No.”

“Did he even-”

“He said you do it, so you  _ do it.” _ Jumba insisted. 

Mahina tried to form an argument. She considered her last two hours. She thought she was less stressed, that things were easier. Dr Hunter had a different idea, which hadn’t been what she wanted. The idea of writing down her feelings wasn’t great...she knew what she was feeling, why write them down? What benefit would that give?

Then again, she could see the look on Jumba’s face. She saw the tension in his shoulders. Many would have problems seeing expression in such a non-human face. There was a year of practice for Mahina. His words showed her things too. Jumba was worried. He usually only got worried for the same reasons Nani did.

The odd letter from social services, the stray argument between her and Lilo, Nani was constantly worried about losing her sister. They at least had familial understanding, Jumba had no such connection to Mahina. One sister raising another, constantly arguing and getting on each others nerves. An alien and a Reality Walking human, somehow always avoiding argument by focusing on mutual interest. A beautiful display, Mahina thought, of nature versus nurture.

Mahina saw that feeling clashing in Jumba again. Though he and Mahina worked well together as a family unit, Jumba occasionally got worried about if he was raising her right. If she was really well taken care of by him, and his own failings as a father.

She only had a few houses before Jumba. A small handful of father figures. Jumba was the best out of all of them. If he felt inadequate, Mahina wanted to work extra hard to make him feel better. Jumba deserved to know he was being a good dad.

She looked at the journal again.

It wasn’t even a choice.

“Could I get a journal with a lock on it?” Mahina offered.

“And another thing- wait you said yes?” Jumba asked.

Mahina nodded. “Can we find a journal with a lock? Or- or maybe we could get a normal one, and you can help me put a lock on it? That would make me feel better.”

Jumba gave her a wide relieved smile. His shoulders relaxing out in relief. “Yes. Yes okay, we could do that. I can make electronic lock that is voice and thumb activated!”

Mahina smiled back at him. The very idea of having a journal was offsetting, she would do it for her pops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are! Just a fic that’s basically Mahina trying to get therapy and that...sorta working? Special thanks to everyone that has read this segment this far! I was hesitant to write Morgan/Mahina’s story as I thought nobody would really like a L&S fic. But you guys proved me wrong! Thank you.  
My usual writing style is to upload the sequel immediately after a story but...I have 15 of those out right now? Maybe _Mahina! The Fanfiction_ will come out around Christmas. For now I’m gonna focus on other stories I have to write.


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